In His Death, You Have Promised Yours
by Fear-Fades-Hope-Lives-4Eva
Summary: They had trusted him, they said, and yet they did this. What part did they trust and how much thought did they put into that trust before doubting it? She would not let this lie. They would know her rage.


Note: I opened SOOOO many docs today to see which ones I could write for and it turns out this sweet baby won the cake! There was a bit of a rewrite/touch up of it through out but the ending has completely changed! The name as well, if that wasn't obvious lol

Title: In His Death, You Have Promised Yours

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Lotor had ended up in the Quintessence Rift.

Lotor had cracked in the face of the Voltron Coalition's accusations and ended up fighting Voltron, _in the Quintessence Rift._

Princess Allura, Voltron, The Coalition, _The Blades of Marmora_ , _everyone_ had left Lotor behind in the Quintessence Rift.

No matter how many times it repeated in her head, no matter how many times she went over it over and over again. She couldn't believe it. Not in the kindness of Hunk's words, the genuine interest that rolled of Pidge in the presence of Galran technology. Everything had been going _fine_. What had happened?!

The air felt too thin, too harsh on her lungs as she rounded another corner, furiously wiping away the tears dampening her cheeks. Lotor had insisted they could be trusted, that he had managed to convince the Princess that he was truly not his father.

An Altean, blurred and unrecognizable and unnamed, helped her back to her feet when she stumbled down the stairs. Tried to say something when Kagome couldn't choke back her sobs but she shook her head. Months and years had gone by since they'd started working alongside other races, like Lotor had always wanted. All that _time_ she had told herself if would finally be over. But now…

The world felt off kilter, like the floor would fall out from under her. Empty and cold and crushing in its weight that she would never again turn around to see her Love. She wailed, falling to her knees and curled over herself. Her cries echoed off the cold, metallic walls of the ship, the purple glow of quintessence that powered the ship lancing straight through to her heart. They hadn't planned for this, not after they had finally gotten past Zarkon, and his plans were coming to fruition. The fear of never waking to Lotor in her life had dimmed with their biggest threat out of the way.

"Empress, please, I know—"

Hot, burning rage swept through her so fast the corridors _filled_ with her power, crackling and bright and so _vicious_ the lights blew. She glowered at the Altean, ashen and shaky, before her as they stumbled to the ground in their haste to back away. "You. know. _what.?_ " She hissed, daring them to continue.

Every other Altean that manned the halls backed into the walls, guns clattering to the floor, the fear in their faces lit up eerily by her power. As her gaze flitted over them, they all looked away, to the ground or simply _away._

Later, when they would be able to move again, to speak without the fear of whimpering, the Alteans would speak in hushes of the devastation Emperor Lotor's Empress could bring on the Galaxy. These same words would someday reach others, in dark corners or throughout mess halls. The Coalition would have things to say, as all who believe themselves in the right do, but even that would change after the events to come.

But as of now, the Alteans could only tremble in front of their Empress, as tears stained her cheeks, despair written in every crumpled line of her body, and her rage coating the halls in ways that even Lady Honerva would envy.

Kagome struggled to her feet, looked away from the Altean before her, and slowly walked past them. As quickly as the anger had swept through her, now it was gone. Her pulse thudded in her ears, loud and slow. And though they were swollen and hot, tears began to spill from her dark, desolate blue eyes. What power that coated the halls lingered and more continued to spill from her in trails that only left the lights flickering.

The hallways leading to the docking bay were suspiciously empty, even of sentries, after that.

She stopped, staring at the door that would lead to the end. Of _everything_.

Her life in space had only begun when she'd been found by Lotor, suffocating to death on a planet she could not breathe on. Brought there when she'd been mistakenly sucked in by Miroku's Wind Tunnel alongside the demons they'd been fighting. He'd saved her, taught her, broadened her world. All her friends, her allies, through him. New planets, new galaxies. He'd helped her move on from the loss of her human life.

Her friends, his Generals, were either dead now or traitors. They'd gone with Lotor, once again stood by his side after he begrudgingly took them back in.

Ezor, Acxa, Zethrid.

 _They_ weren't the ones to bring her the news. _They_ didn't come back battered and bruised and broken at the loss of someone they trusted.

Because, yet again, they proved they had never trusted him in the first place.

Breath shaky, she stepped forward and any composure she'd tried to maintain started to crack when the doors opened to reveal Honerva's despondent form.

 _No_.

She knew. Kagome _knew_ before even seeing the defeated slump of those shoulders. Lotor had always said it was a possibility that the sheer amount of Quintessence may kill a person instead of warping them like it did Honerva and Zarkon. That was why he had been so adamant on getting ahold of another comet, build another sentient machine like Voltron. There were talks, in-depth lengthy talks that had her desperate to find a way to end Zarkon's reign and help him change the way Quintessence was harvested.

Hearing of Voltron's return was supposed to be a blessing.

He was-

"-ve him."

It was true irony that the rest of the Galaxy's blessing, the salvation that Lotor had wanted so desperately in the deepest depths of himself, was his curse. His ending.

"-ave him."

She hollowly walked over to the railing, legs barely getting her there before she dropped to the floor, barely able to bring herself to even grasp the balusters. The Sincline stood before her but that was all she could make out, all she was willing to focus on. Never again would she hear him teaching her the differences in each planet they came across. Never again would she wake to see him reading plans or watch how he could instill confidence and drive into people. There would be no hands curling around hers, no arms enveloping her, or soft words whispered against her skin. The safety of his size, the warmth of his love.

 _How could they do this?!_

 _"Save him!"_

Kagome gasped at Honerva's outburst, blinking through her tears to look up at her. For all that she spent millennia abusing and neglecting her own son, the Altean was more distraught then Kagome expected her to be. And yet, there was no room left in her to even _begin_ to feel sympathy for this woman. "What?"

Honerva dropped down next to her, hands coming to cling desperately and painfully to Kagome. Hands that had harmed Lotor. That had lead to Narti's demise. _"Save. Him."_

Save...?

How could-

Her breath caught, and she twisted around to look back down at Sincline. To where the sentient mecha was screaming. Her eyes widened. How had she not heard that this whole time? How— No. Kagome shook her head, tried not to dwell on that. The important thing was that she was aware _now_. Of all the things he'd taught her, that Miroku had taught her, Lady Kaede; everyone agreed that one of the unique traits she had among mikos was the ability to enhance other energies, regardless of the source. Even life.

Her limits were _boundless_. The Jewel had made sure of that, had foolishly fed her more than it should and she had adapted, as all things do. How could she forget? How could she _doubt_?

She pulled Honerva's hands off her, using the railing to pull herself over it and drop onto the Sincline. It's screaming quieted, paused, then it hummed under her, the presence skirting along her conscious still agitated, still distraught and betrayed and _vengeful_.

Slowly, hesitantly, _afraid_ , Kagome looked up and felt the very core of herself break. Forced her feet to move, one step after another.

Vines, black and twisted and _dark_ , of his flesh, maybe, or his armor, grew thicker the higher she climbed, until she was just above the cockpit. She fell to her knees. He was… _everywhere._ Stretched and melted and— Kagome crawled into his lap. Her hands slid over his deformed body, catching on him; the broken parts of his armor. They slid up the mangled form of his neck and cupped what was visible of his jaw.

A sob choked its way out of her.

Tears began to fall again, dripping onto him and she couldn't bear looking at him anymore, leaning close until their foreheads touched.

Hurting. Broken. _Lost._

But hopeful.

She focused on that. Let it be her drive as she called her power. Her self-restoring, _unique_ quintessence that had first led him to her. That had _almost_ been enough to curb him from this path if it hadn't been for his father.

Her skin warmed, the air crackled around her.

Needing to feel him more, her hands fell from his jaw to tangle in the ruined, hardened mess that was his hair.

Power poured from her in waves, in bolts of lightning, bursts of flame. Violent, dangerous. Not just proof of the toll his death was to her. And still, she called on more.

Until it hurt to breathe, to hear, to see.

Until all there was in her sight was her energy and how it moved over his body.

The melted vines of his skin, in all their thick, curling vastness, were starting to sizzle, to melt and recede from beneath her. She leaned back. Not yet. Not enough.

More.

She tilted her head back. Her power bathed the air around her in swirling masses of pinks and blues and purples. Like a thick fog. A giggle, hysterical but genuine, came after a stray thought. Her power looked like cotton candy. Lotor had never seen cotton candy before. This whole time, she could have shared with him something from her home.

This reality's Earth flashed through her mind, then Voltron and Princess Allura, the Coalition. Zarkon. _Honerva._

Anger bloomed across her skin. At him. At the Empire. At the Universe. Her power sparked, crackled, burned the air.

She burrowed even further inside of herself, knowing there was still so much more she could pull out. It continued to gather, thickening and darkening the room until Honerva's power, until even Sincline who stood underneath her and Lotor, was drowned out and only then, did she redirect that power.

Focused it. Shaped it.

Down. Below her. Into the body that lay so still. Into the chest that did not rise. Filled him until it tried spilling out.

And while her power worked on his body, she set her sight elsewhere.

His soul _would_ come to her call. Kagome would not allow for anything else.

 _Nothing_ would keep him from her and indeed, something tried.

She called on the Shikon, on the anger and hatred that sat inside of it, and let it deal with this _distraction_.

She brought her hands up to skim the edges of his essence as he heeded her call.

Bits and pieces. Emotions. Glimpses.

So much was coming off him.

Chaos.

Kagome enveloped it easily, bringing it into her arms. Settling it over her heart. Protecting, reassuring.

He grew under her care, strengthened. _Lightened._

Through the power that clouded her sight, she found the spot in his body that was empty and carefully pushed him back where he belonged. Braced herself there.

The Shikon quieted as she saw to his body and her mind managed to wander as she imagined the feel of his chest rising with his breath.

Hands bruised her sides, gripped her dress, claws cut into her bare back yet her concentration did not break and her body did not yield.

Anger had subsided in him, desire becoming less hungry and more desperate.

An arm wrapped about her waist. A chest pressed against her own. Her head was jerked back by her hair...

He was so close now. Almost. Almost there. _Almo_ -

Lips pressed against hers, rough and determined, easily prying her mouth open. Breath flowed into her. Her heart hammered against her ribs, high pitched ringing in her ears being drowned out by the joy Sincline was broadcasting across her mind.

Kagome's eyes shot open, blue meeting blue, as he pulled back.

" _Lotor_?"

His lips pressed gently to her forehead, trailed down to her tear stained cheek, to her ear, where he said, "Do not be so cruel to bring me back only to die on me."

Her breath was all shuddering laughter. "Lot-" The word broke off halfway through, grief building back up and he pulled her closer, curling around her like he wasn't the one who had been dead. "You—"

"Lotor?"

He went stiff at Honerva's voice and she clutched at him tighter, one hand coming up to curl in his hair and keep his face cradled in her neck. "Don't look." She whispered, turning so their cheeks were pressed against each other. He trembled against her and she wished so bad that they were alone so she could see how well his body was functioning after all the energy he'd been immersed in.

"Lotor! Kagome, let me see my son!"

Her mouth twisted and so reluctantly, she pulled away from Lotor's embrace though she kept his face turned down to her. She met his eyes, mouth parting in the exhaustion that lined his face but also— Entranced, she rubbed her thumbs over the glowing marks that lay on his cheeks. He'd mentioned in their last com that they had appeared only briefly. There were other changes, things she could only look briefly before she felt Honerva's energy spike.

She stood slowly, watching the way her power caressed him, flowed through hair, bathed Sincline. It still coated the room, not nearly as potent but there and as she continued to breathe, it slowly began to dim and return to her body.

Lotor did as she asked and kept his head bowed, grasping at her legs so tight she can see the veins on his now exposed arms stand out. He's buck naked, she now realized dimly, and looked over her shoulder before the thought could really hit her. Honerva was still above them, barely standing from how far over the railing she's leaning. There's a desperation on her face that Kagome can't help but feel resentful over.

"Come down, Lady Honerva. It's not fair to you or your son to look at him from all the way up there."

Lotor's claw nicked her and she grimaced, realizing exactly how that must sound to him after everything he went through before he was abandoned in the quintessence field. Even so, he didn't pull away when she reached out and brushed back some of his hair, lingering on a faint old scar just at his hairline. ' _Trust me,'_ She thought desperately. ' _I know you've been through lifetimes of doubt and betrayal but please, do not doubt me._ '

Honerva's footsteps sounded to her right and though every part of her screamed, she stepped out of Lotor's grip and hauled herself out of Sincline's cockpit. From behind the Altean, she noticed lingering traces of power that had yet to come back to her were sparking. It trailed behind her and Kagome almost pushed it forward but decided to leave it at its sluggish pace.

One foot settled on the landing, just as Honerva stopped before her, and she pushed forward, power converging around them, metal glinting from her hand. The dagger tore past the royal clothing, into skin like it was butter. Her power beat down on the Altean, burrowed into her wound and tore through her veins.

Honerva staggered back, looking lost, shocked, _betrayed_ and Kagome _almost_ went in for another strike had it not been for the hands that grabbed her from behind, pulled her back into a body she knew intimately well. He wrapped around her, breathed her scent in, clung to her. She laid her hand against an arm, looked at him as best as she could. "Lotor?"

Neither of them looked when Honerva's body fell. Lotor, she was sure he had his reasons but Kagome? She didn't need to. She could feel her fading life force as well as the dark energy that still sat in her. It didn't worry her. Her power would consume it, as the stronger energy and because purification didn't leave behind traces of anything.

"Let us go."

"Anywhere. Where would you like to go?" She turned into his embrace, cupped his face in her hands as his hair fell around them.

His arms fell from around her waist, hands trailing down over her butt, to hook on her thighs and hoist her up so he could easily press his mouth to the corner of her mouth. Not quite a kiss, there was no intent, no desire in his hold or how he held her against him. He must be so tired, his body so exhausted and yet he stood there with her in his arms like this was no different than any other day. She wrapped her arms around his neck and breathed out softly, "Where would you like to go?"

"Home." He rumbled quietly.

"Sincline, you know where home is, yes?" Kagome asked quietly, carding a hand through his hair, the other trailing small circles over his shoulder. The mecha hummed in the forefront of her mind and she heard it start up. "Are you comfortable getting back in Sincline, Lotor?"

He hummed and turned around and Kagome stared over his shoulder at where Honerva's still body lay until it disappeared from her sight when he sat down. He let her go just long enough to rearrange herself so she was laying across his lap.

"Sincline, broadcast a message to the ship and to all Alteans on this channel, that their Emperor has returned and he will call on them when he is ready." She ordered, leaning up to nuzzle into Lotor's cheek. His eyes had already fallen shut and she could feel his breaths getting deeper. Still, he pressed into her touch.

She would deal with Voltron and its Paladins later. For now, she had an Emperor to take care of.

End.

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There y'all have it! The new, updated version! Hope you liked!


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